Royal Flush
by iSqueakers
Summary: Princess Daisy disappears, threatening a three-year-old peace treaty between the Mushroom Kingdom and Dark Land. Although Bowser sends two koopalings to ease the tensions, two other koopalings take the situation into their own hands. However, they find out that something else is occurring; something bigger than they can comprehend. Something... divine. First of the God Series.
1. The Meeting and the Whines

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 **Royal Flush**

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 **A/N: Well here's yet another story from me and my first true update in a year and a half. I can't believe it's been that long! I'm surprised I still remember how to submit a story, haha.**

 **Right now the rest of my stories are on hiatus so I can focus on this one. I've had this idea for quite awhile but certain events this year such as travels, my 10-year high school reunion and immersing myself in possible Mario theories led me to solidify this plot.**

 **Just beware. I'm usually one to focus on [most] canon, but due to the franchise not having the resources I need [such as history long before Mario and Luigi were born], some of my own "headcanon" (mainly me interpreting canonical locations/characters/rivalries through the use of my own headcanoned history, ever as far off as ancient times) will appear throughout the story.**

 **The Mushroom Kingdom I'm basing off Super Mario Brothers 3 as that makes the most sense for this story, while I'm using the Koopalings' modern 2015 looks (with the exception of flashbacks) as those are now canon. The Mario Gang and Bowser hasn't changed much throughout the years, but their 2015 forms will also be used. I also am considering Junior to be a Koopaling especially after NSMBW. I think the only canon I'm truly breaking is the Bowser-Koopalings relation. In this story, they are Bowser's children. There may be minor OOC's for some [though nothing too noticeable. Again, just to satisfy with the resources I don't have].**

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 **Part I - The Royal Flush**

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 **Chapter I**

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Residents in the Mushroom Kingdom still recall the days of sleeping with fire flowers under their pillows in fear of another take-over-the-Kingdom scheme by Bowser. The terror of witnessing an utter sight of destruction left behind by the Koopa King's fury-driven destruction still sweep throughout the land. The blood-curdling screams of their beloved princess pierce the air of the serene land, even throughout this period of peace agreed on by Bowser, Peach and the Mario Brothers almost three years ago.

Oh, how those days were simple and predictable. Every destructive act in the Mushroom Kingdom, save for the takeovers of Smithy, Cackletta and Fawful, the residents could blame Bowser in some degree, hands down. Now, the safety of their princess may be compromised by a string of unknown, mysterious kidnappings—even if the kidnappings took place as far away as Sarasaland.

Despite its vast distance east from the Kingdom, Sarasaland and its four kingdoms, ruled by Peach's cousin Daisy, formed and maintained excellent relations with the Mushroom Kingdom. In fact, sightings of Princess Daisy and Princess Peach together flood the media, strengthening the already strong bond the two kingdoms have. Strong enough that, when Tatanga kidnapped Daisy and took over Sarasaland, Mario retaliated by defeating the short, purple alien and once again liberating the exhausted kingdom, hence Sarasaland was the first time he saved a nation other than the Mushroom Kingdom, and the media considered this the introductory period of becoming a worldwide hero.

As Sarasaland doesn't get involved in international affairs unlike the Mushroom Kingdom, nothing major happened in Daisy's kingdom ever since that fateful day, until these strings of kidnappings—codenamed 'Royal Flush'. Daisy just happened to disappear, as well as many high-ranking officials of the Sarasalandian military.

Nothing more than a set of unproven hypotheses on how Daisy and her officials vanished without a trace make up the Royal Flush mystery. This 'disappearance' started when Daisy missed a meeting with the Birabuto Kingdom about two weeks prior. Though last seen in Birabuto the day before the scheduled meeting, the desert princess seemed to be snatched up by the desert's dry and open air, disappearing without a trace.

Due to no investigator, journalist nor governmental official knowing the true story, several unproven theories flow throughout the entire Mushroom World. Some sources believe Daisy became tired of the constant publicity and ran away, while others state that either a kidnapper or a group abducted her. A third, more outrageous claim, believed by many in the Mushroom Kingdom, states that the Koopa Kingdom of Dark Land stole her and could even be holding her hostage.

Due to the latter claim, as well as the peace treaty with the Mushroom Kingdom, Dark Land's on the defense rather than practicing their fiendish pastime of world domination. Dark Land's King Bowser insists that he doesn't have Daisy, and that he doesn't have any use of Sarasaland like he does with Peach's kingdom. He even states that his eight children worry for their safety due to these false claims.

To alleviate the stress put on the Dark Land Royal Family during the two mystery-quenched weeks, Bowser designated a free-day for his kids. Rather than to have them play any other simulated war-games, they'll instead have the choice to do whatever they want in the castle during the day. However, before they are, the Koopa King asked all his kids to attend a meeting at 8AM to discuss these happenings as well as a potential solution...

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A dark Thursday morning greets the residents of Castle Koopa, the dreary air blending in with the grim landscape of central Dark Land. On the second floor of the keep, suspense music leaks out of the tucked-away master bedroom, but gets stifled as quick as it starts. Not less than half a minute later, King Bowser Koopa emerges from the room, his facial features begging for a swim in an entire Olympic-sized pool of coffee. As he brushes his red hair back with his hands, the Koopa King makes his way down the dark-velvety-carpeted second story before descending to the first.

After taking the first left turn, he stumbles upon the three main meeting rooms. The first one, more of the size of an auditorium rather than an actual meeting room, he always used when addressing his military or when holding public conferences. The second, medium-sized meeting room he used with military generals, commanders, diplomats and other governmental officials, both domestic and foreign. Last, the smallest and perhaps the most important room for him as a father, he used with his eight koopalings. Although used alone for formal business matters, the room's also utilized to plan a koopaling's surprise birthday party and other fun events.

After entering the room then making sure the room's clean, organized and devoid of bugged material, Bowser nods in approval and starts making his way towards one of the castle's PA systems just outside the room.

But before Bowser could wake up the Koopalings on the system, an earthquake-like shaking rattles the castle and a series of loud explosions emerge from upstairs, as though Ludwig's "latest and greatest invention" failed its initial analysis. Nothing new here; in fact, Bowser would freak if an explosion didn't occur at least once every week. Bowser sighed; at least everyone will hate Ludwig when they all wake up rather than throwing insults at the King.

He knew his kids awoke to the massive explosion and will make their way down; the detonation could wake up an ancient mummy. To occupy the waiting time, he peers out of the meeting room's window and sighs. Strong southerly winds blew all the gunk from the toxic, uninhabited, volcano-rich southern third of Dark Land, turning the sky charcoal-black and decreasing the visible to almost nil. No doubt the castle will be placed under a mandatory shelter-in-place as always when the winds come from the south. Times like this makes him wonder why the kings of before built this castle just north of the southern dark wastelands.

Not long after Bowser pulled away from the window, Ludwig von Koopa makes his way into the meeting room, still with his hair messed up and a sooty face. Being the oldest and wisest of the koopalings, Ludwig declare responsibility for leading his siblings through wisdom, and turning them from weaklings to ranking among Dark Land's best. Once attempting to teach them the power of knowledge through inventing, he settled by setting an example instead since several of his inventions exploded and caused harm to his siblings. He believes the rest of the koopalings need to learn to arrive early or on time for a meeting, and they'll only learn if he himself does that.

As the eldest, he's also caring to each one of his siblings, though he does have fallouts with Roy and Junior. The bond between him and Roy may perhaps be the slickest of them all, as both koopalings unleash the Alpha Male part of them in situations, especially in circumstances affecting their siblings. One minute the two will get along while the next, they'll get into a giant fight about nothing. Unlike with Roy, the eldest never formed a bond with Junior. For unknown reasons, Ludwig considers Junior a dirty pest who adds filth to the Koopa name, though he bottles that hate whenever he's around a sibling other than Larry.

"Thanks for the wakeup alarm, Kooky," Bowser thanked.

"Indeed. There goes an entire night's worth of work..." the eldest koopaling sighed in depression.

After Ludwig sits at the table on the left hand side of his father, a tired Larry walks into the room and sits by Ludwig. Although he enjoys pranking with Lemmy and Iggy, along with doing close-to-illegal behaviors with Roy and Morton, Larry's interests match Ludwig's the most. As Ludwig's a composing pianist and Larry's a guitarist, they both love to listen to music and play music. They also love science, love the same books, and even have the same blue hair (although Larry takes care of his) and blue eyes.

Not counting Iggy, Larry does have the most extreme "Jekyll-Hyde-like alter-ego" (as the others call it) of the koopalings that turns him from a shy, plant-loving, sports-loving, caring koopa into an overconfident sneak obsessed with cheating, scamming, hacking, spying, lying, violence and stealing. Because of such a black-and-white difference, Larry inherited the nickname "Cheatsy". This side of him comes out on his enemies, on people who try to double-cross him, or if someone possesses an object or idea Larry desires. There's one famous saying that describes Larry/Cheatsy's sneakiness and his ability to spy well: "The only thing scarier than having Larry around, is not having him around."

"Larry. Nice to see you here early," Bowser welcomed with a small smile.

"I just couldn't sleep... Slept like crap on a log," Larry informed the two of them, "And Ludwig's explosion didn't help. Only reason why I'm here now."

Before either Ludwig or Bowser can respond, both Lemmy and Iggy rush into the room, giggling and pushing each other before they take up the remaining two seats on Bowser's left side by Larry.

Although just weeks younger than Ludwig, Lemmy's the shortest, most energetic and the least mature of the original seven koopalings. Growing up, Lemmy's siblings always ridiculed him about his height, mostly by his younger, yet much stronger brother Roy. Though being depressed about it in his early days, he then decided to roll on a green-and-yellow circus ball and even crack jokes about his height. Since he rolled around at such a young age, rolling became his primary source of motion rather than walking, resulting in Lemmy being terrible at moving without his ball. Of course, with Lemmy having both rainbow-colored hair and the ability to balance on a ball, Roy started to call him other names such as a "circus freak", which Lemmy embraced.

Growing up, Iggy loved hanging out with Lemmy, but when he was alone, Iggy delved into performing experiments. His experiments transitioned from seeing what moldy food looks like when he was just a little kid, all the way to making powerful medicines. Somewhere in the mix, Ludwig inspired Iggy to also became an inventor, one explosion at a time.

Unlike Ludwig, mistakes come rare for Iggy, hence exploding inventions almost never occur for the middle child. However, two years ago while Iggy was making a hair regrowth potion for Wendy and Roy, a mishap occurred when the koopaling added the wrong chemical to a potent solution. Instead, the entire solution exploded and landed all over Iggy and his hair, turning his then-rainbow hair into a permanent, bright green Mohawk. Seeing he didn't look like Lemmy, Iggy fell into a depressive state and locked himself in his room for at least a week straight, declining to come out for even dinner until he at least made an invention to revert his hair. He didn't exit his room until Larry, Morton and Wendy snuck into his room late one night. Morton gave him a speech on individuality while Wendy shaped his hair into a tree as a joke suggested by Larry. Ever since then, he loved his hair, even if he was no longer a copy-and-paste of Lemmy.

"Hi King Dad!" the ball-riding koopaling greeted, "Hi Larry! Hi Ludwig!"

"Greetings, Lemmy," replied Ludwig, "Likewise, Iggy."

"Um... Hey," Larry piped.

"That explosion woke us up!" Iggy exclaimed, "What was it? Your 'best invention ever!'? Hahahahaha!"

Ludwig facepalms. Although he's used to his inventions being a laughing stock, it still annoyed him. "Yes. My inventions suffered a mere period of restiveness, resulting in that very disaster you mentioned-"

However, a shout erupts just outside the meeting door, causing every koopa, including Bowser, to cover their ears in pure horror.

"WHOEVER WOKE ME UP WITH THAT EXPLOSION WILL PAY!" a whine emanated from the hall as Wendy O. Koopa steps into the room. She looks as if she just woken up, not even bothering to put on makeup other than lipstick, eyeliner and her trademarked pink-polka bow. "KOOKY!"

Wendy hated the mornings. Waking up to eat breakfast sucks for her, let alone having to wake up for what she calls a pointless, morning meeting. In fact, since she can remember, she always hated being awake during the hours between 4AM and noon, and whenever she was, she would throw one of her legendary "WORST TANTRUM YOU'LL EVER HEAR FROM ME!"-styled tantrums. Whenever Wendy's not being a short-tempered, spoiled brat, she doesn't mind being around her brothers, though one has a higher chance of winning the lottery than seeing her with them.

"Geez, sorry," Ludwig rolled his eyes, "Accidents happen."

"YEAH? THEN STOP MAKING THEM AT 7:55 IN THE FREAKING MORNING! HELLLLLLLO?!" she cried as she sits farthest away from Bowser, just across from Iggy.

"Whatever you murmur, sibling. Now, what in this elliptical-shaped galaxy is taking the slackers so long?" the eldest complained.

"There's no way Junior could sleep through that explosion. It was massive! He wakes up when he hears a pin drop," Larry replied to Ludwig's question, "So he'll be here soon, unfortunately. But honestly, Roy and Morton can sleep through a nuke."

"You're wrong there, Cheatsy," Roy sneered as he, Morton and Junior step into the room, "We're awake as you can see!"

"Isn't Iggy the one who's supposed to rhyme?" Wendy questioned, throwing away her negative attitude. Instead, a tired tone fills her voice.

"Don't matter, Sis!" the burly koopa commented as he sits by Wendy and Morton sits by Roy.

During the years, Roy's personality took a tremendous turn. Growing up with Ludwig's exploding inventions first taught Roy that he should deliberately harm his siblings, especially Iggy and Larry. That all changed when the Koopalings found out about Bowser Junior. When he found out Ludwig hated Junior, Roy, with his slippery bond and rivalry with Ludwig, instead decided to defend the youngest child. That vow of defense extended to the rest of the koopalings in general, and, other than isolated events, Roy hasn't beaten up any of them since. Of course, he still has his tough-guy, anti-mushy attitude, and he still humiliates his siblings every chance he gets.

The same situation of verbal abuse can be said about Morton. In fact, his testy and sarcastic personality makes him even harsher and more unforgiving than Roy, although Morton strives to not unleash that negativity unless he's tired, annoyed or proving a point. Though most of the time he's blunt with his words, Morton has trouble condensing his thoughts into words whenever he's excited or panicked, causing him to let loose his infamous speech-like rambles. He spends the most time around Roy, though, unlike the others, he makes room for Junior.

And last but not least...

Junior makes his way to sit just to the right of Bowser. Looking at his siblings, he sees a scowl on Ludwig's face and Larry giving Junior a glazed look.

Junior just turned ten a few months back, but his early childhood's different from the Koopalings. He was hidden from the other koopalings as Bowser feared for Junior's safety due to Junior looking almost like Bowser. About four years ago, he was introduced to the others during a dinner. Though most of the koopalings initially rejected him, they started to get accustomed to him, though Larry, Ludwig and Wendy still hold hostility towards him. He doesn't know why they do, and he tries everything to get them to like him through any way possible, but to no avail.

"I'm here, Papa! I'm here!" Junior exclaimed, feeling proud of himself, "That explosion almost killed me!"

Hearing the lie, Ludwig rolls his eyes at his youngest brother. Bowser sighs, not saying anything to either koopaling about the situation. He just wants to get this meeting on a roll.

"Now, concerning the explosion," Bowser started, "It'll be dealt with. But first, I want to talk to you about the current issues going on."

"Lemme guess," Wendy grumbled, "Daisy."

Bowser nods his head, "It's more than just Daisy now. To some, Dark Land's a suspect in her disappearance. The Mushroom Kingdom itself doesn't believe that due to the lack of proof, but the Dark Land-bordering lands of Pipe Land and Lower Sky Land have taken huge actions against koopas in that area, including guarding the border even more. And in Desert Land, this claim only made the years-long unrest between the northern and southern sectors worse."

"Ahh, got to love the beautiful music of hysteria and paranoia," Ludwig replied in a sarcastic tone, "Like a sudden fortissimo. Reminds me of the 'Don't drive down Caldera Road when the traffic lights are blinking yellow' craze."

The koopalings know that too well. Caldera Road's the main road of central Dark Land used mainly during business hours. The road connects Castle Koopa between its nearest northern city of Caldera and the now-exhausted sulfur mines of Southern Dark Land. Though the road south of the castle been blocked by barricades for years due to the health dangers of Southern Dark Land, several residents have gone missing, especially when the traffic lights on Caldera Road between the city and the castle get disabled every weekend when most businesses are closed.

"Hmm, that Caldera Road hysteria's still going on, especially in Caldera," Iggy aknowledged. He then brushes off Ludwig's statement, "Will this destroy the treaty between Peach and you?"

"No. As I said, the Mushroom Kingdom itself doesn't believe the claim. We still have strong relations with Grass Land, Water Land and Ice Land, and those three Lands condemned the actions of Pipe Land and Lower Sky Land while calling for peace in Desert Land."

"Um, what can we do about it?" Larry inquired in a quiet voice, "That's all Mushroom Kingdom stuff, isn't it?"

"Upper Sky Land's handling its Lower sector well. Though they don't have as strong of relations to us as our three allied lands, Upper Sky Land still disagrees with its lower sector. That leaves Pipe Land and Desert Land."

Bowser then eyes Ludwig, then Morton.

"And since Ludwig and Morton are ambassadors to each of those lands, I want both of them to help me out starting tomorrow. Hopefully the winds stop blowing from the south tomorrow so the doomships can liftoff. I'll give you two the details later. As for the rest of you, I want you all to stay away from the Mushroom Kingdom. Even Grass Land had isolated anti-koopa protests earlier today though they quickly got shut down. Kamek has his things to do in his lab also, so I'll have Kammy watch over you kids. For today I'll let you guys do whatever you want inside the castle, however."

Every Koopaling except for Ludwig and Morton look horrified over hearing the name of their babysitter. Ludwig and Morton, however, still express disgust.

"Kammy?!" Roy growled, "I hate that hag! I'll pound her into the ground!"

"Yeah Dad! I want Kamek!" added Iggy, "He's much better! He actually knows science!"

Multiple other outbursts erupt from the table. Even the obedient Junior joins in on his siblings' protests. Twenty seconds into the affair, Bowser pounds on the table before yelling.

"QUIET! Kammy's a good babysitter! Now treat her with respect! I don't get what you don't like about her!"

The Koopalings stare at him, not daring to be the first one to speak. After what seemed like an eternity, Morton speaks up.

"She's so gross though King Dad, she always threatens to give us The Eye! Doesn't that just make a GREAT AND WONDERFUL babysitter, ay King Dad? I hate The Eye! I got The Eye so many times and it caused me to be puking sick for hours! Her eyes are evil! She needs to get those things removed! Maybe trick her into cursing the mirror or something!"

Every Koopaling shudders at the mentioning of The Eye. Kammy uses a curse the Koopalings call 'The Eye' whenever they go against her way. Whenever she does The Eye, she first glares at them, then pulls the lower eyelid of both her left and right eyes with her left hand and mutters a curse at them. The Eye frightens even the logical-thinking Ludwig and the bad-boy Roy; the two of them, the tantrum-throwing Wendy and the ever-so-sarcastic Morton are the four most frequent victims of Kammy's Eye curses.

"Oh, enough of that Eye nonsense! That's superstition! She only uses that to scare you! Whatever happened to you was coincidental!"

Wendy scoffed at her father's comments, "Coincidental? Then how did I break out in those itchy, nasty, disgusting hives five minutes after I got The Eye? Coincidence?!"

"Ya Pops! Me and Kootie Pie over here always get some sort of nasty Kammy cooties from her Eye thing every time her ol' eagle-face comes here!" added Roy.

"Magikoopas are powerful beings, but they're too weak to take total control of a body, and they can't just sprout up a random disease! Especially without their magic wands, let alone their eyes! The worst Kammy can do is drop blocks on you. But she's watching over the rest of you guys, like it or not!" Bowser explained to his children, then cleared his throat, "Ludwig, Morton, do you accept the mission to go to Pipe Land and Desert Land?"

"Yes, Father, we will be honored to be of assistance," Ludwig accepted the request from Bowser.

"Great, I just love doing nothing but fixing relations! I totally wanted to stay with Grandma Eye," Morton agreed also, though more in a sarcastic way than Bowser anticipated. The rest of the koopalings, save for Iggy, nod their heads, though still grumbling about the whole Kammy issue.

"Sounds grand!" Iggy agreed before asking another question, "And what about Giant Land? Do they need help from me? I haven't heard about them. I can always help out!"

"Eh," Bowser grunted, "You know Giant Land's government. Neutral with everything under the Sun. Knowing them, they'll be neither for us or against us. But if the unrest does leak into there then I'll tell you. Same with the rest of you and your Lands. Especially you, Roy; Sky Land might slip out of control."

"Of course, Pops!" Roy submitted and appeared rather confident, but in his mind he worried about Sky Land. Perhaps he can help out and surprise his dad?

"That's all I wanted to say, other than Dark Land's helping with the Daisy search. Any other things you kids want to mention?"

The seven koopalings shake their head, but Junior looks up at his dad with a look of dejection. Ever since he could remember, Bowser always gave his youngest son missions such as these in the name of making Junior fit to be King.

"But Papa! Can I go? Even Ludwig gets to go!" the small, begging koopa struggled to hold back tears.

"No, Junior, you stay here with the rest of your siblings this time. This could be dangerous."

"But Papa..." Junior stammered, "You let me kidnap Peach in Isle Delfino by myself!"

All seven koopalings roll their eyes; whenever Junior gets rejected, he doesn't take it well. To most of them, he gives off the demeanor that because he's the cut-and-paste version of his father's younger self, he's entitled to everything.

"This isn't kidnapping Peach. This is dealing with relationships between the Lands and Dark Land. All this by Peach's side, should I mention. So no, you aren't going."

"But-"

"Silence, Junior." This time, rather than the King cutting him off, the eldest koopaling takes action, "The Mushroom Kingdom refrains to proceed with formal matters whenever brats present themselves in front of their delegates, let alone a scampy offspring of a bygone archenemy whose pastime included, yet not limited to, kidnapping the Kingdom's ruler every month on-the-dot, and striving to seize preeminent artifacts from ancient, divine beings."

Junior, Bowser and the koopalings, save for Larry and Iggy, all give Ludwig a blank stare. Sensing their confusion, Ludwig sighs.

"Ugh, whatever, let me simplify it. Before the peace treaty, King Dad loved kidnapping Peach and attempting to conquer the world. Even with the treaty and the thawed relations, the Mushroom Kingdom wouldn't want Bowser Junior to constantly whine during a meeting. So, Junior, you don't belong."

Understanding the simplified reason, the rest of the koopalings nod their heads while Bowser, still with a blank stare, ponders over the words. Junior, however, fails to hold back his tears.

"Papa!" Junior sobbed, "Luddy's being a meanie to me! Please let me go!"

If any of the original seven Koopalings begged to Bowser as Junior did when they were his age, the King would burn them to a crisp with his fiery rage. The Koopalings know this, and, to be frank, they always get irked about how Bowser instead replies in annoyance to Junior.

"No, Junior. Listen to Ludwig. That's the end of it."

Junior quits complaining out loud, but instead mumbles something along the lines of "Luddy will pay!"

"None of you kids got anything, uh, valuable to add? Besides Kammy complaints and whining? Well then, get out of here! Enjoy your day. Meeting adjourned!"


	2. Gameroom Drama

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 **Chapter II: Gameroom Drama**

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After the meeting, Ludwig rushes to the upstairs gameroom piano and opens a book containing his music sheets. Larry, holding a guitar, follows Ludwig's lead and sets up a music stand beside his eldest brother. After Larry puts the guitar variant of Ludwig's current masterpiece on the music stand, both of them begin to play, adding a slow, calm melody to the otherwise bleak atmosphere of the gameroom.

On the other side of the room, Lemmy, Iggy, Roy and Wendy immerse themselves in a round of Koopa Katastrophe. Though Lemmy and Iggy enjoy the first-person shooter game, Roy's only playing since his girlfriend Pom Pom went camping, while Wendy's playing due to the other three, above all Roy, calling her a "chicken" and a "loser" for denying the chance to play on any typical day. Instead, the female koopaling feels lucky today, resulting in her joining in. Yells of glee and shouts of disappointment from the four also blends in with Ludwig's music.

"C'mon Roy! Go up the ramp!" Iggy commanded, "Kill them! Kill them all before we become their dancing slaves!"

"I can't, punk! I'm stuck at this here wall!"

"Lemmy! You do it! Stop them!"

"Yeah I will- WHAT?! I'm out of ammo?!"

Iggy facepalms and sighs, "Way to go, genius."

In between the two groups, Morton and Bowser Junior lounge together. Morton reads a book out loud while Junior—seeming to be over the drama at the earlier meeting—draws some fanart, most likely based on the book, on some unbounded paper. Surprising as it is, the music drowns out Morton's voice for everyone save for Junior.

"Alas, Silence has a voice of its own. It's not the voice of the birds in the forests of Giant Land. It's not the voice of the waves as you relax on the world-class beaches of Water Land, and it's not the voice of the speedy winds of Upper Sky Land. Silence's voice is felt rather than heard. Its voice is daunting, yet welcoming. Petrifying, yet strangely soothing..." Morton read.

"Aha!" Junior exclaimed, drawing a sketch on a sheet of paper, "Art idea!"

Not even a minute after Junior's exclamation, Wendy screams while hopping up and down. Ludwig's music screeches to a halt at his sister's shriek.

"HA! I beat all of you! Woooot! I'm the champion, you're the losers! Hahahaha!" the female koopaling jeered as she puts her controller on the couch, "Anyway, I have a phone call to make! I'll whoop you three later!"

"Ugh!" Iggy moaned as Wendy exits the gameroom, "Beaten by WENDY of all people. I'll never hear the end of this! We should've camped the ramp instead of climbing that wall!"

"Yeah. I must admit though, she did good!" Lemmy pointed out with his usual lighthearted attitude.

However, the sudden screams and the halted music doesn't prevent Morton from still reading.

"I did stumble upon a hero before who was responsible for stabilizing society. He wasn't wearing a cape, nor a logo, nor was he ever popular. To some, he was considered taboo; to others, he was nothing but pure control, and for the majority, they turned away from him. But I will always seek him. I want him; I yearn for him." Morton continues to read, "And thus, without his support, our society crumbles beneath itself. Our society cannot survive without its hero, Truth."

"Oh man, I love that passage!" Junior blurted, "SO many great art ideas!"

Since Ludwig and Larry stopped playing their music during Wendy's scream, Lemmy overhears the two and turns toward them.

"Oh hey Juniors! What book you guys reading this time?" the curious koopaling questioned as he starts balancing on his favorite green-and-yellow-starred ball.

"It's called _Societal Spurn_ which is about this one girl who's attending high school in Sky Land but she's all depressed about society and stuff so she writes everything about what's wrong with the system. Very cool stuff though it does get dark," Morton explained to the others in one of his nice tones his siblings almost never witnessed. Lemmy nods his head in interest before rolling over towards Junior.

"Nice drawing! Can I see?" the second-oldest koopaling questioned. However, before Junior gives him permission, Lemmy picks up the sheet and holds it horizontal to his face. While Lemmy sees the drawing and admires it, both Larry and Ludwig spot familiar lines and dots on the other side, causing anger to grow in the eldest.

"JUNIOR! YOU STOLE MY MUSIC SHEETS!" Ludwig roared, causing the other koopalings, even Roy and Larry, to flinch, "AND YOU PUT FREAKING PAINT ON THE OTHER SIDE!"

Junior gives both of them a blank stare. Though too shocked to cry, his body quivered in fear. Ludwig always got annoyed or upset at him, but the youngest never faced anything close to this level of enrage from his oldest brother. He knew Ludwig's defensive about his music, but he never figured his brother became an uncontrolled psycho if the sheets got ruined.

"WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND? HUH?" the eldest continues to scold the youngest, turning less rational as he continues, "ANYTHING AT ALL? OR JUST NOTHING BUT THE STUPID FILTH THAT'S USUALLY THERE?"

"B-b-but... I was out of paper-"

"THEN ASK FOR PAPER NEXT TIME! YOU DON'T JUST TAKE PEOPLE'S CRAP AND SCREW IT UP!"

The other male koopalings once again flinch when Ludwig said Crap and Screw. He never cusses or use informal words unless he's experiencing extreme anger or any other sort of unhealthy emotion. Hence, all of them back away and none of the other five stood up for Junior.

"But..." Junior looked to both Morton and Roy for possible help. Morton shrugs while Roy shakes his head.

"Nope BJ, all up to ya. Hate to say this but Kooky's right."

With the hurtful words aimed at him and the lack of defense, Junior dashes out of the room sobbing. Lemmy, Iggy and Morton still stare blank-faced, Roy looks exhausted while Larry stifles a chuckle.

"Eh heh heh, wow," Larry chuckled, "Uhh... Wasn't expecting all that! It was interesting to see."

"Indeed," Ludwig replied, back in his calm, but worried demeanor. He then plucks the destroyed music sheet from Lemmy and checks its current condition. Like a parent to their traumatized child, Ludwig hugged the tarnished, yet readable music sheet to his chest in relief, "Perhaps I overreacted with him, but I had every right to. This piece in itself took many sleepless nights to compose just the first section, and I'd hate to see it be destroyed in the careless hands of my siblings. Especially by such an imp."

"It's wrong what he did, but I think you went too hard on him," Iggy nods his head and he looks at Morton and Roy, "Someone should talk to him."

Seeing Iggy's stare, Morton gives him a glare, "Why are you staring at us, psycho? Did you just see what we did to him you dysfunctional idiot?"

"Good point... Junior probably doesn't like Morton and Roy right now. I don't mind him but I don't like him either, so my comforting will be quite futile," acknowledged the middle koopaling, "Ludwig and Larry hate him. Wendy wasn't here to witness everything, and even if she was she'd want nothing to do with Junior. That really leaves one person."

Everyone turns their heads toward Lemmy and they all give him a grin. Lemmy notices and attempts to protest.

"What?" the ball-riding koopaling exclaimed in shock, "B-but why me? We aren't really friends!"

"Because you don't hate anyone. Now do it, pipsqueak!" Roy commanded.

* * *

After several threats, a confiscated ball and a literal boot-out-the-door by Roy, Lemmy begins to stumble towards Junior's room. On the way, he passes the door leading to his own room.

 _'_ _Too bad I don't have an extra ball right now. Could definitely use it now. Roy's so annoying. I'll show him!'_

Lemmy continues to walk—err, stumble—past Iggy's room, then Morton's room before he reaches the door to his youngest sibling. Inside, he perceives muffled sobs.

Hearing the whimpers, Lemmy thinks, _'Surprised he didn't go to King Dad, cry to him then get all of us kicked out by Dad's wrath. Ugh, do I really want to do this? I wasn't even involved in any of that drama!'_

Lemmy gives the door a tender rap. As his knuckles make contact with the wood, the sobs went silent. Lemmy knocks again, this time getting a sharp message in reply.

"Go away!"

"Junior, I want to talk to you," the older koopaling consoled.

Junior didn't voice a response. Instead, Lemmy hears shuffling in the room followed by the door opening.

The sight of Junior terrified Lemmy. The red of his bloodshot eyes rival that of a strawberry field in the summertime, his hair ranks on the Ludwig scale of rumpled, and wetness invades his face like a ruthless army battalion. Despite the sudden surprise, Lemmy strives to prevent his words from becoming stumbled or stuttered.

"What do you want." Junior commanded, not sounding affable at all.

"I... Err... want to talk about what happened there in the gameroom-"

"What's there to talk about? You've seen it all!"

"I want to talk-"

"And you seen how Luddy was like!"

"Junior, listen-"

"I was only making a painting and he treats me like-"

"JUNIOR!" Lemmy shouts; for the first time, Junior's seen his older brother's two now-unconcealed fangs. Only during rare times does his playful brother takes command of a situation, and Lemmy doing that on him puts Junior at a complete loss of words. "Stop talking and let me talk!"

"O-o-okay Lemmy," the koopa managed to squeak upon seeing Lemmy's clenched teeth. Lemmy relaxes his mouth before he inquires Junior.

"Now, why'd you use Ludwig's music sheets?" Lemmy questioned. Unlike his typical personality, no tone of friendliness pepper his voice, but rather one of interrogation and seriousness. He wanted to get this over with so he can continue hanging out with the others.

"Uhh... I was kind of out of paper-"

"Quit lying. We gave you a 200-sheet sketchbook just a week ago."

"Fiiiiiine..." Junior confessed, "I did it because Luddy got to go tomorrow! I wanted to! Luddy doesn't deserve to go!"

"And you pretty much punished Ludwig because of Dad's choice?"

"Uhh..." Junior stammered, "I also did it because... Uhh... He hates me too..."

"Junior. Doing stuff like that won't get rid of the hate. It'll only make the hate worse," Lemmy taught, his demeanor softening, "You have to just let go. I've known Ludwig for longer than any of our siblings, and I know he harbors emotions for longer than any of our other brothers do. I'm honestly starting to believe it's an oldest-sibling trait, though it's something he shares with Wendy too."

"And?"

"And you wouldn't. You know what being hated is like, so why would you do that? So just stop doing stuff out of hate. I know Ludwig's a pain at times; I'm the one who ended his dream of being an only sibling. I experienced his moodiness for at least half my life because of that."

Junior ponders about the words his typical non-serious, fun-loving brother told him. From his other siblings, he learned never to take Lemmy's words to heart due to his joking nature. Though Lemmy's closer to Junior than the other koopalings, Junior's never seen the logical, wise side of him.

"But let me say this. Warm up to Ludwig, then he'll warm up to you. When he gets back from Pipe Land, I'll help out since Ludwig can be a pain to cooperate with at first," Lemmy concluded, "Anyway, I'm going back to the gameroom. You should come back, just don't draw on Ludwig's stuff. Or anyone's stuff, really. We hate having our things destroyed."

Junior remains silent as Lemmy retreats from him, still pondering. So many questions flow through Junior's head, each of them traveling a mile a minute and jumbling over each other as they race through. Was Lemmy really right? Would something as simple as always being nice to Ludwig be able to diminish his hate towards Junior?

 _'_ _But I done that before!'_ Junior's mind screamed.

But did he do it right? Is there something else he's missing? Why can't he figure out what, and how come Lemmy never told him more?

Junior wanted to go back to the gameroom and spew on anyone, just anyone, the confusing mess occurring in his head; his overworked mind begs for clarification of any sort, and his siblings must have that. But, he could tell from the argument, that his siblings needed a break from him. Sulking, Junior returns into his bedroom and locks a door.

Perhaps it's best to ask Lemmy more later.

* * *

Feeling accomplished about his task, Lemmy eases the door open to the gameroom. Ludwig and Larry still play their acoustic music, seeming to disregard Roy and Morton's daily arguments they consider to be fun, this time arguing over the apparel of some "hot" girl in some movie they watched the day before. Iggy still lounges on the couch, controller implanted in his left fist and eyes almost closed.

"No way!" Roy shouted in Morton's face, "She would wear a pink dress if she was going to the party!"

"Pink? No one in their right mind wears PINK!" Morton growled back, "She would wear BLACK!"

"Pink! And her partner will wear purple!"

"BLACK AND GRAY!"

"PINK AND-" Roy paused when he spots Lemmy, "Lookie here, the Lem's back. How's the brat?"

The image of the ruffled Junior pops into Lemmy's head. His messed up hair, his swollen eyes, and most of all his fearful, sorrowful demeanor. Of course, if he told everyone else this, they'd make a big deal out of it. Lemmy knew that all Junior needed was time, and perhaps a gentle hand from Bowser. Or perhaps, maybe even from him.

"He's fine. Only a bit shaken up. Best to give him time," Lemmy reported. _'Yeah, about a decade...'_ he adds to himself.

"Well you earned this here ball back-" Roy started, but then switched to a tangent, "No you didn't actually! You have to beat me in Koopa Katastrophe!"

Lemmy looks at Roy, then at Morton then Iggy before he breaks into a grin.

"Last one to the couch is a bad-breathed loser!" the small koopaling exclaimed as he makes a full-on dash to the couch.

* * *

 **A/N: Here I am yet again breaking up Bowser's children. I really need to hide from Bowser and his children [especially Ludwig, I don't think he exactly likes me right now. I PROMISE there's a purpose for all that, Ludwig...], and they'll only get angrier with the next chapters coming up... *Shudders***

 **Well, no cliffhanger this time, but don't get TOO comfortable now. ;)**


	3. Last Minutes

**.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER III - Last Minutes**

* * *

With Lemmy and Roy each winning one round, the group's now working on their tie-breaking round on their game. However, on the other side of the room, Ludwig and Larry pack up their music sheets, not interested in watching the game their four siblings immersed themselves into. Larry picks up his guitar before he and Ludwig exit the gameroom.

"Here, Lawrence, our new piece sounds great on the piano, but I want to attempt on my pipe organ."

"Um, well, okay then," Larry agreed.

The second-youngest koopaling follows Ludwig to his room on the castle's south side. They pass Larry's techno-jungle room, Wendy's gossip-filled palace and Roy's mess-of-a-barrack before stumbling upon Ludwig's chambers. Ludwig flips the lights on and a clean, yet slightly-smoky room greets both koopalings.

"Ugh," the eldest sighs as he stares up at the sky-blue ceiling, seeming to inspect the smoke pouring out of it, "The smoke from my laboratory due to this morning's mishap still leak into here. I require myself to sort out the debris before I succumb to some sort of inhalation or asphyxiation."

"Good idea. What were you inventing anyway?"

Ludwig continues staring at the ceiling as he answers Larry's question, "Nothing major or ground-breaking. I desired to construct a backpack capable of surviving through any smoke-filled area. It was to act like any other oxygen tank, but instead of slowly running out of oxygen, the machine itself will filter healthy air from the unhealthy pollution and add it to the tank. In theory, air will never run out of said tank. But, there was one main problem I forgot to inspect."

"What was that?" the Mohawked koopa stares at Ludwig in rapt attention. At this point, Ludwig's reasons for malfunctions no longer surprise Larry, though he still gets intrigued.

"The carbon I used to filter the air inside the tank contained too many impurities. I assume the impurities were pressure-sensitive—I haven't done much research on what substances they were—so they combusted in the high pressure area inside the tank, resulting in the massive explosion."

Larry couldn't help but grin at the explanation; Ludwig's mistakes always amused him. Not to mention the irony of the smoke being produced by a machine that was supposed to filter it.

Ignoring his younger brother's facial expressions, Ludwig gazes out the south-facing window, sighting the Caldera mountain chain surrounded by the polluted, toxic air.

"Soon, I aspire to produce an invention that will survive such conditions out there. Southern Dark Land contains so many mysteries, but the air's just too bad to survive even with conventional oxygen tanks. I suppose the cursed land's also dark, as we experience clouds of the light-blocking fine particles originating from there whenever the southerlies kick up. Much like today."

"Heh, there's no plants there so I wouldn't care," Larry conceded before transitioning back to the music topic, "Well, let's hear you play it."

Ludwig nods and sits on the organ's bench, positioning his feet on the ground petals. He then plants his fingers on the chocolate-stained ivory keyboard and begins to play the intro. After the first four measures, Larry picks up his guitar and plays the guitar variant of the song. Though a similar melody with the organ compared to the piano, both koopalings noted the organ gives off an eerie tone rather than the piano's sad, thoughtful timbre.

Following the conclusion of the first section of the composition, both koopalings quit playing and start discussing their feelings.

"I come to think that playing the organ variant will fit better with Halloween rather than any other typical day. And it'll go better with your electric guitar rather than that acoustic one," Ludwig concludes, "More individuals will relate to the piano rather than feeling as if they're in a boo mansion."

"Agreed," the younger koopaling nodded, "What inspired the melody?"

Ludwig ponders on the question, seeming as if he's questioning whether he should tell Larry or not. About half a minute later, he responds to the question.

"Well, the basics come from an ancient song. Historians believed it was used during the early days of Dark Land, or perhaps even into a myserious empire that existed in Dark Land before then. I don't have anything else to say rather than the melodies for the majority of ancient Darklandian songs were... Quite serene. In fact, in my eyes, too serene for Dark Land. They are, well... Mysterious, in a way. I have never figured out why."

"Uhh, interesting. Any uses for the songs?"

"I reckon they used the power of music to summon whatever gods or other compelling figures they believed in," Ludwig continued his explanation, "Music didn't start up as a wide-range secular activity until well after the Mushroom Kingdom formed. In ancient times, music was solely for sacred gatherings. They were sacred chants."

"Well, cool. History can be interesting at times then!" Larry acknowledged before turning towards the exit, "But I need to water my plants now. Have a great trip, Luddi!"

As Larry opens the door, Ludwig clears his throat and speaks to him in a low voice.

"Oh, before you go. I just want to say... Be careful," Ludwig warned, resulting in a surprised expression from Larry.

"Um, if anything, I should be saying that to you! Be careful, Luddi."

"No, really Lawrence. Be careful."

Larry gives Ludwig a confused expression, but decides not to question his warning any further. Though that warning does raise a red flag in the sneak's mind. What could possibly warrant such a warning from someone about to enter a zone of protest? Not to mention a warning from Ludwig von Koopa?

 _'_ _Hmm, I may need to... ahem... research this entire thing more. The cameras and mics I hid in the meeting room will take care of all that,'_ Larry thought with a grin as he escapes Ludwig's room and walks towards his.

* * *

"Are we doing best of five or best of seven?" Lemmy questioned. With Iggy helping Lemmy and Morton helping Roy, each team now won twice and look forward to their third win.

Roy smirks at the question, "Five."

"Last game then. Get ready to be beaten!"

"Ahaha. Naw, shrimp, you get ready."

Iggy press Start on the game and more Koopa Katastrophe occurs. In a lucky draw, Iggy's character spawns by Lemmy's, and the two form an unofficial team. Despite the luck, they're both in a mysterious, bleak cave.

"We need to leave the cave, Lemmy," Iggy informed, "The pressure from that gas will kill us all! Or we become brainwashed slaves to the Great Alien God!"

The others roll their eyes at Iggy, noting that he has yet again lost his cookies. The number two thing Insane Iggy loves to do is to talk about aliens. The Number One thing: Invent something dealing with them.

"Iggy's gone insane! That's our chance to sneak up! And kill! And win!" Morton cheered, "Onward to the caves!"

Iggy grabs a magic wand deposited on the cave floor while Lemmy picks up a spawned Bob-omb. Still sticking together, they find the mouth of the cave and trudge through a thick layer of mud present.

Not long after they make it out the cave, the two get ambushed by sudden gunshots from a machine gun Morton possesses. Lemmy ducks back into the cave while Iggy does his best to dodge the bullet barrage and shoots beams at Morton.

"There's nothing else in this cave!" Lemmy cried as his character stands behind, rubbing the one delicate Bob-omb.

The shooting war continues between Iggy and Morton. During the first few minutes of the war, things went in favor of Iggy, but after some failed dodging by Iggy, Morton now has the advantage. Things get even worse when Roy appears on screen, holding what looks like a sledgehammer.

"Ahh! Watch out, Iggy!" Lemmy cried as Roy prepares to swing the sledgehammer.

"Ack!"

The lanky koopaling strives to avoid the attack, but the action came too late; Iggy's character keels over as the sledgehammer makes contact. The character then disappears, and a "PLAYER KILLED!" message appears.

"No! Iggy!"

Not much time passed before Lemmy's expression turned from shock to one thirsting for revenge. Without any ounce of fear, he throws the bob-omb at the group. Roy attempts to volley the bomb back using the hammer but misses, resulting in the bomb exploding on Morton's character. Another "PLAYER KILLED!" message blinks onscreen.

"Damn it!" Morton cursed as he threw down the remote control, "That was so rigged! Rigged I tell you!"

"What, rigged that I killed you with only one bomb?" Lemmy remarked in a snide voice, "Now it's just you and me, Roy! Bring it on!"

"Oh, it's on, baby."

Having no weapon yet again, Lemmy trudges deeper into the cave, with Roy pursuing him. Not long after, another bob-omb spawns nearby Lemmy.

 _'_ _Another one? Really now?'_ the playful koopaling mutters under his breath, remaining quiet enough for none of the other three to pick up his words.

Despite his complaint, Lemmy picks up the bob-omb, much to the jeers of Roy.

"Hahahaha! A bob-omb! Whatcha gonna do? You're in da cave this time!"

Lemmy didn't bother to explain. Instead, he begins to study his surroundings deeper than he has before. He's in a cave, so is Roy, and the difference between a cave and the open air is a cave has a ceiling. Lemmy also has a bob-omb, which will break the ceiling. As it crushes everything below, a new exit should appear. Lemmy couldn't help but to grin at the plan.

"Bombs are useful when you know what to do with them!" Lemmy eventually shouts out, "Like this!"

A mesmerizing explosion occurs around Roy as rocks rain down on his character. With all the rocks pinning him to the ground, Roy's character suffocates not long after the explosion, resulting in the third "PLAYER KILLED!" message, as well as a "CONGRATULATIONS!" to Lemmy.

"Ugh! What!? I never seen that happen!" Roy huffs, though disbelief shows all over his face, "That was pure luck!"

Lemmy couldn't help but to smile and to add on a "Told ya!"

"Well. Guess a deal's a deal. That stupid ball is in the corner by the piano. Take it before I change my mind."

Lemmy retrieves his ball and both he and Iggy leave the gameroom, leaving Morton and Roy alone in the gameroom.

"So... Still can't believe that happened, I had him cornered."

Morton nods, "Damn bombs. Swear Lem uses cheat codes or something."

"Yup... Ready for tomorrow for whatever the hell you're doin'?"

"Ya, being a lil slave to Desert Land and giving them what they want, what isn't there to be ready for?" Morton complained, "But whatever, better than being here with Ol' Googly-eyes and getting cursed for taking up too much room or whatever idiotic excuse she uses."

"Lucky you, I hate that hag. May just ditch the castle and stay at Pompy's."

"I would too if I didn't have to burn in the desert. Anyway, I need to spend my last few hours of freedom preparing for tomorrow. I have the stupid meeting at eight tomorrow morning. I'll hopefully be back in a week in the earliest but who knows."

"Peace, Mort."

As Morton leaves the gameroom, Roy's left alone to think. He wants to know more, and he feels as if Morton, as well as Ludwig, both know more about this situation than they let go. Perhaps he'll need to take this into his own hands. Though Morton's big mouth did let out some vital information.

"Mort said the meeting was at eight tomorrow morning then?" Roy smirked, "Then so be it. Looks like my involvement starts at eight also."

* * *

 **A/N: Woo, I've been away for far too long now! But good news is I have up to Chapter 6 typed up so updates shouldn't be so long now. In fact, Chapter 4 is pretty much done but going through edits and whatnot.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading! If you have any feedback or other reviews then I'll gladly accept them. :)**


	4. Blackout

**.**

* * *

 **Chapter IV**

* * *

During the night, even nature itself became bipolar. Until the early morning, the southerlies strengthened, knocking down any aged and weakened trees around Castle Koopa. One of those unfortunate trees slammed onto some power lines, shutting off the power for the entire castle and causing the emergency generators to kick on moments after. Not even half an hour later, a weather front overtakes Castle Koopa and generates northerly winds. The northerlies blew hard enough to get rid of the air pollution before coming to a near standstill.

During the morning time, chaos ensues in Castle Koopa. With the power outage tripping up the castle's clocks and the generators' delayed reactions not saving them in time, every member of the castle, save for Kamek and Ludwig, slept in. The rest of the residents never woke up until sunlight poured into their barracks.

That includes Roy. Even with his eyes closed, he still feels the morning rays' piercing effects on his light-sensitive vision. Groaning, the koopaling stretches his arms before reaching for his signature shades. He puts them on before opening his eyes, then he gazes at the clock's flashing display.

"Dammit! The meeting!" Roy exclaimed in frustration, "I wanna find out that info but my clock reset!"

Roy dashes out of the room, not even caring to do his morning exercise routines–he considered the sudden sprint to be enough. Every hallway he dashes down appears empty—not even the hallway leading to the meeting rooms contained people.

"What happened to all them clocks? Whatever. That means no guards by the meeting room's door," Roy growled to no one in particular as he approaches the third door. Once at the door, he begins to eavesdrop on the meeting between Bowser and the two koopalings.

"And there's our plan," Roy overhears Bowser concluding, "The Princess will meet us there and we'll look more into it. But for now, the secret has to be kept safe, or else riots will pop up all over Plit!"

Roy pulls his head back from the door in confusion. What plan? Where are they meeting? What do they mean a "riot"?

"The plan you eloquently presented seems fascinating at the very least, King Dad," Ludwig's voice piped up, prompting Roy to scowl and mouth the word 'suck-up'. "But we also need to worry about Sky Land. Their revolution will remain unchecked, and they can throw off the entire plan."

"Sky Land won't be bad," Bowser answered in confidence, "Militarily, Upper Sky Land has immense power compared to Lower Sky Land, so The Emperor can keep them in check. If worse comes to worst then maybe I'll get Dark Land involved through Roy."

At the mentioning of his name, Roy perks up, and, despite his ear being on the door, he attempts to dig his head into the room even more. He wants to hear this conspiracy, in particular the plan that may involve him, as well as the updates on the land he's in charge of for the Dark Land government.

"However," Bowser continued, "It's best we don't interfere. If we interfere with Sky Land at all, we risk the alliance of Grass Land, Water Land and Ice Land. Pipe Land could also get worse off against Dark Land also. It's a high enough risk that you two are helping with Pipe Land and Desert Land, we don't need more fuel."

"Well..." Morton muttered, "My feedback on the plan is that any stupid airhead could-"

Roy holds still and listens with even more intent. Perhaps the plan he missed will be repeated through this one question? However, much to his disappointment, a feminine voice on the room's intercom cuts Morton off.

"King Bowser!" the intercom reported, "The northerlies have kicked in a few hours ago! Now the air is clear for liftoff! Kammy will also be here within a few hours; the blackout messed up her clocks!"

"Awesome, we'll be on or way!" the King shouts to the PA system before turning to the two koopalings, "Kids, if you have any questions, I'll answer on the doomship. Let's go."

Hearing the sounds of shuffling and squeaking chairs, Roy turns away from the door and sprints towards the stairs. His dad isn't known to be the kindest person towards spies he catches, particularly ones who spy on plans that sound... Revolutionary. As this appears to be the case, Roy understands the importance of fleeing.

Running up the stairs, Roy didn't know what to do. He so wanted to scout Sky Land himself; anything to get away from the Eye curses. However, he also wanted to, for once, obey his father and stay in the castle. With plans on this scale, Bowser won't let anyone, not even his children, get in his way, and that thought makes even Roy feel uneasy. Perhaps he should take some time to cool down and ponder on the situation more.

"I should... Uhh, just stay in my room for now. Maybe, err, watch some boxing or something. Or I could force Larry to tell me info. Larry's always up in people's grills."

* * *

Two rooms down from Roy's, a second figure stirs from their slumber, this time in content rather than in haste. The figure sits up then runs his fingers into his blue Mohawk.

"Geez," the figure, obviously Larry, states to nobody in particular, "I need a shower. My hair feels like dead twigs even after the conditioning session last night!"

Only now did Larry bother to gaze at the battery-operated alarm clock on his nightstand.

"What? 10:32AM? Holy crap I slept in! There goes my plan on surveilling Dad's meeting..." Larry exclaimed in slight disappointment, "But good thing I, the Emperor of Eavesdropping, always have a Plan B."

With a smirk, the young koopaling makes his way to the other side of the room, where seven different computer monitors greet Larry. Following a few keyboard presses, a black code box pops up on the rightmost monitor, causing Larry to type another line of code in. As he presses enter, every screen broadcasts a specific part of the castle.

"Okay, awesome. The cameras and the mics still work. Now I just need... Dammit, which camera was it. I know I frequently use 13, 17 and 18. Let's try 13."

Larry types in 13 on the rightmost monitor. Unfortunately, the camera leads to the castle's kitchen.

"Whoops, that's the kitchen! And really now? Roast beef for lunch? Gross! When will people learn the importance of vegetables?" the koopaling couldn't help but mutter, "Well, let's try 17."

This time, the camera leads to the small meeting room comprising of around ten chairs. With a grin, Larry hits Enter.

"Phew, found it! No idea how Dad didn't ever debug that one. Now I just need to find recent footage taken by this camera from like two hours ago. Easy."

Back on the rightmost screen, Larry types another code and presses enter. Though expecting a successful result, Larry instead gets an error message.

"ERROR: CAMERA'S ONLY BEEN ACTIVATED SINCE 10:34AM. PLEASE SET A MORE REASONABLE TIME RANGE." the computer screen reported.

As he reads the message, Larry's smirk transforms into a look of dejection.

"Aww great... The cameras work now, but they didn't then. That means they weren't sabotaged, and only I have the power to turn them on and off. The only other thing that could reset them is either a power surge or a power outage. Probably a stupid outage with stupid late-reacting generators King Dad never bothered to upgrade. Now because of that, I'm screwed. Great."

However, despite the complaint, the sneak's smile returns to his face.

"I may not be able to collect my information by spying... But I know there's others who know what's going on. That's where my hacking abilities come in."

Without even bothering with a shower or breakfast, Larry opens another command box and begins a group video call.


	5. The Witch Arrives

**.**

* * *

 **Chapter V**

* * *

Roy didn't leave his room until just after eleven o'clock. Though no one spotted him fleeing from the meeting room hallway, he didn't want to risk being caught knowing the information he does without first getting used to it. Rather than walking into the gameroom where he figured the rest of his siblings will be, Roy instead heads to the living room to hit up the other family television. Perhaps the bigger screen and the surround sound will make a TV action movie come to life better. To him, there's nothing that watching violence cannot solve.

"Hmm, action movies," Roy started to explore the TV's On Demand service, "Will I watch Koopahari Slayer or will it be-"

Before Roy can read through any other options, he feels his phone vibrating in his shell, with a hard rock ringtone following soon after. Sighing, Roy digs for the phone and looks at the display. Pom Pom.

"Oh, her," the burly koopaling muttered before answering the phone, "Sup Pompy? How you even have service?"

"Hey Roy! Well, uhh, the place I'm camping at, it has, like, a cellphone tower nearby! Seriously, I've spent so much time on my phone! It's keeping my sanity that these bugs and flies are totally trying to take away from me!"

Roy rolls his eyes at her comments, "Pompy... But all the exercise you could do being outside! All that fresh air!"

"Oh please, that's your sector! For me, if I can't skate on something, it's not for me!"

"Yeah yeah, I'll show ya the light one of these days..."

"Uh huh," she replies in a sort of teasing way before sounding serious again, "How's the... Uhh, Daisy issue going?"

Roy found himself caught off-guard by the question. Between his father's plan and all that's been going on in the Mushroom Kingdom, he completely forgot about the sole cause, or "cause", of all those issues. It's as if it's more of an excuse rather than a priority.

"Oh! Them kidnappin' things! Dad said Dark Land's helping, but he seems more concerned with the Lands than with Daisy," Roy reported after thinking the situation through.

"I wonder what happened to her."

Roy sighs as he ponders over the statement. Week after week, Mushroom Kingdom officials and the Dark Land's investigation team worked simultaneously on any possible leads. Leads they thought would guide them to an oasis of information instead dried up, just like the barren lands of Birabuto where the Sarasalandian princess allegedly disappeared.

"Iunno Pompy... But I'll find out."

"I'm seriously willing to help too. My camping trip ends, like, tomorrow I think, so I'll meet you then? We can probably discuss more things and, y'know, spend quality time."

"I'll have ta remember that. I'll call ya back tomorrow then."

"Totally rad! Well, okay, bye Roy!"

"Peace."

As Roy ends the call, a tall, green-haired koopaling bursts into the room and almost cannonballs into the couch. He turns to Roy with a manic grin on his face. Roy gives a confused face in return.

Iggy and his personality patterns always confuse him, especially when Iggy splits away from Lemmy. Roy understands the personalities of Wendy, Morton, Larry and Junior as he watched them grow up, but with Iggy... He could be insane one day, smart the next and a complete brick on the third.

'Guess that all fits under Psycho...' Roy thought, still giving Iggy the look.

"Hey Roy! Nothing on?" panted the excited Iggy.

"Of course not, nerd. Was tryna find an action movie since regular TV sucks right now. All the good stuff comes on durin' Prime Time. Afternoons suck. On Demand sucks. And geez, what's up with ya? It's like you ran from a freak or something! And stop smilin' before something blows up, you psycho!"

"Well..." Iggy voiced, "You can... Uhh, give the remote here. A special documentary about cosmic events will start soon! I can't miss it for my life! The aliens will be discovered!"

Roy looks at the remote, pondering in his mind. Would he rather watch a stupid infomercial, or enter into Iggy's little nerd nirvana? Or he could always go back to his room.

"Whatever geek, knock yo'self out with dat crap. I'm leaving."

"Cheers," the koopa scientist exclaimed, then flips through several channels until the television broadcasts the opening credits of the documentary. He then pauses the show and turns towards Roy, "I heard you making plans with someone tomorrow. You do know tomorrow's Saturday, right? That means you have to gather your army to watch two armies scrimmage. You were assigned to this week."

"You were listening? Ugh, do I have any privacy around here? Of course I knew about tomorrow! You'd think I'd forget?" Roy managed to lie while thinking to himself, _'Thought that was next week...'_

"I forgot whose army also watches with you. Oh well."

"Yeah. Err, damn, don't think my army's organized right now. I should contact them somehow-"

"Well, ahem," Iggy sarcastically coughed, "Use... Uhh, your magic wand? Or your phone?"

"Oh yea, I knew that! Just testing my brainiac brother, y'know," Roy defended himself, causing Iggy to roll his eyes. After the discussion, Roy reaches inside his shell and grabs his pink gem-tipped scepter. As he wields the wand, the gem increases in size and a hologram of a pink-armoured koopatrol appears. Roy scowls as he looks at the hologram.

"Boom Boom, General of the Koopa Troop Ground Fleet," the koopa introduced himself with a serious tone, "Who's this?"

"Geez, so formal to one of your best friends," Roy murmured before speaking up, "We have to watch a scrimmage tomorrow. Get the rest of the army together and talk to them!"

"Ahh, hey Roy! Wassup?! And I will gather them up, no worries."

The wand then shrinks back into its original size. Roy pockets the wand then turns to a staring Iggy.

"Peace, nerd."

"Have fun, Roy."

* * *

"Point is, I don't trust my dad, but the rest of my siblings seem to. Like blind sheep. A few days ago, Iggy told me about a conversation he overheard between Bowser and Kamek, and it was about the Gods being in trouble or something? I mean, the last word of advice I need to take is from a psycho like Iggy, but this may only solidify my foundation. Even if not, Dad also mentioned something about the gods when I bugged him. Again, not exactly common knowledge, and something else I want more info on..."

In a room boasting exotic plants, seven computer monitors broadcast different graphs, as well as a video call, for a Koopaling in front of them. The Koopaling, no other than Larry Koopa, styles his Mohawk as he browses through the numerous graphs before typing in a computer code on a black screen. During the times when he isn't an athlete, a gardener or a guitarist, Larry declares himself a hacker, and hacks under the name Alpha.

Nobody knows for sure when Larry learned to hack, nor who taught him. They do know, however, that since the day he found hacking, Larry loved it. He's naturally a curious, sneaky, get-all-up-in-people's-business type of person, and hacking satisfies those needs, even involving something dishonest and illegal such as stealing credit card information—his favorite.

But this time, his current hacking plan doesn't focus on any financial fraud. His plan focuses on breaking into Kamek's secured Intranet connection and finding out Bowser's plans from there. He knows they're hiding something, and nothing will prevent him from finding out what.

"Alpha, why don't you trust your own father? And gods in trouble? What's that supposed to mean?" one of the people in the video call fired question after question, "And you found all that out from Iggy? Will you let him in on our secrets?"

"No no no, Iggy won't be in on any of this, nor will any of my other siblings for that matter. Once Iggy finds out a secret, the entire world knows about it a minute later. Take this latest example. Plus, that's one step closer to Dad knowing my plans if he or any of my siblings know." Larry declined, "Anyway, my dad's sneaky, Beta. Of course he's not as sneaky as me, but he still has a knick to hide stuff. I refuse to be snuck up on, and I know he's planning something. I mean, look! He knows something about these gods, let alone them being "in trouble"! That's fishy at the very least! I don't know what this all means, but I will find out. It's my job anyhow."

"So you plan to break into his Intranet connection," Beta finished.

"Well, technically Kamek's, but Bowser also uses that connection. I'm honestly not sure how much of a role Kamek plays in all this, but Kammy's watching us instead of Kamek, and that also makes me suspicious. However, to access the intranet, I need to get through his actual Internet connection, and I can't get into his connection..." Larry moaned.

"Can't get into it?"

Before Larry can respond, Beta beats him to it.

"Theta, Kamek's WiFi connection probably has the new security protocol, one that makes even WPA2 look like a pathetic plastic padlock. It comes with all the security features offered with WPA2, but it doesn't allow brute-force hacking."

"So I can't get in," Larry muttered, continuing with Beta's explanation, "The only way I can get signals from the network is if I poison the ARP. It should work because Kamek still didn't enable port security."

"What?" Theta questioned, "I thought Kamek's connection was hack free! He made several upgrades-"

"Nope," Larry objected, "Kamek broke three fundamental rules of security. The rules are: One, don't buy a computer. Two, if you did, don't turn it on. Three, if you did turn it on, don't do anything on it. Since he broke all three rules, his computer's no longer hack-proof. So I will get in through his connection, it'll just be much harder than usual. Being able to actually access his computer will be even tougher since I need to trick him into installing a RAT, and that would get me noticed easier."

"Yeah, just be passive with that Internet connection," Theta suggested.

"I agree," Beta nodded, "I always hated ARP spoofing. The victims always catch me."

"Usually happens when the user's aware of their MAC address. Kamek can barely remember his password to log on..." Larry informed his group. He then lets out a sigh before he speaks once again, "Kamek's Internet's down for some reason. I'll have to find out info about Dad's plans and those gods later when it's back up. For now, my army needs to watch a scrimmage tomorrow, and the stupid hag that's my babysitter will be here soon. See ya soon!"

Before the rest of the group can say their parting messages to Larry, the call shuts down.

* * *

"Opening up! Currently nine in the evening!"

At the front entrance to Bowser's Castle, two koopatrols hold the door open for a purple-robed magikoopa. The magikoopa fails to acknowledge the guards before riding her pink broomstick towards the Koopalings' hub: the gameroom.

"Time to spend time with these brats. I question Lord Bowser at times," the mage hissed before opening the gameroom's door.

A complete disaster of a room greets Kammy. Several kinds of toys litter the floor, piles of scratch paper corrode the area around Ludwig's piano and multiple empty bags of chips rest by the gameroom's couch. There, on the couch surrounded by the bags, sits Wendy, Iggy, Lemmy and Junior.

Frowning, the magikoopa floats above the mess and over the couch. Positioning herself in front of the four koopalings, she hops off her broom.

"Oh great. Kammy," Wendy moaned, "Get out the way, I'm trying to watch this show."

Though taken aback by her comment, Kammy then regains her composure. As she does so, she starts to move her left hand towards her face. Seeing the movement, Wendy starts to freak out.

"Okay! Okay! Fine! Block the stinking TV!"

"Good," Kammy gives Wendy a sarcastic smile, "Now, where are the others? What brats are missing here?"

"Um," Lemmy perked up, "Larry and Roy; both been in their rooms all day."

"Roy was out earlier before the doc I was watching started. Haven't seen Larry at all; I don't think he even came out to eat today. Not surprising since he never hangs out with us when Ludwig's gone."

"Meh, whatever, seeing their mugs tomorrow is enough of a punishment, let alone tonight," the magikoopa dismissed the subject before bringing up another, "Now, what the heck do you call this room?! I had to use my broomstick to fly over this mess! And I hate using my broom!"

"You're always on it though-"

Kammy then starts to glare at Iggy after the comment.

"Oh."

"Good. Anyway, before I was SO RUDELY interrupted... Where was I? Oh, right. This disaster. I want it cleaned up, pronto! You all are children of a king! You need to have the manners and the cleanliness of a royal, not a filthy, good-for-nothing serf!"

"Oh, you dumb hag, I'm Daddy's favorite so I don't have to-" Junior speaks up, only to be cutoff by Kammy.

"Shut up and clean this room! Now!"

Not wanting to risk another Eye curse, the four koopalings jump of the couch and start to declutter the room. Junior decides to pick up the toys, Iggy sorts through the piles of paper, Lemmy throws the chip bags away and Wendy pulls out one of the castle's vacuum cleaners from the janitor supply closet. As Wendy turns on the vacuum and proceeds to vacuum after Lemmy, Kammy positions herself on the couch and turns the channel to the Koopa Blahgic Channel.

"Ooh," Kammy voices to herself, "Kamille has Kamella on her show! I have yet to receive an invite! I need to learn more of this dark magic from the gods or something."

Perhaps she said the last statement too loud, as Lemmy and Wendy both give her a questioning look.

"That's none of your business," Kammy replies with a sour voice, "Now back to work!"


	6. A Disastrous Breakfast

**A/N: Well, this should be the last chapter that sets up the story, so hopefully we start to get into the meat in Chapter 7 and beyond. :)**

* * *

 **Chapter VI**

* * *

By now, everyone but the night guards retire to their rooms, preparing to get some shut-eye. Even Roy, who tends to sneak out several nights, decided to call it a night. As he flicks off the lights, removes his shades and relaxes on his bed, he hears a soft knock on his door.

 _'_ _Really now?'_ he mumbled before he called out, "What do you want?!"

"Uhh, Roy, I can't sleep," a voice squeaked. Sighing, Roy gets out of bed and puts his shades back on before opening his door. Outside stands Junior, expressing a semi-tired face and carrying a little blanket.

"So you interrupt me?" Roy seethed.

"I'm sorry! Daddy's not here so I-"

"Whatever. I didn't ask for a life story. What's keeping ya up?"

Junior shuddered at the question, "I keep having weird dreams, nightmares, everything! I just, I don't know. I feel, like, I guess unsafe in a way."

Roy sighs; he can tell Junior's exaggerating about everything that happened within the past day, but he also wanted to sleep without interruptions. Also, not to mention, Roy doesn't have a spare bed even if he allowed Junior to stay with him, but he does know a sibling that does.

"Here, Junior, follow me. I'll take ya to Lemmy."

Without another word, both of them take the short journey to Lemmy's room on the other side of the castle. Roy then pounds on Lemmy's door, not caring whether Iggy can hear the knocking from next door or not.

"Open up!" Roy commands as he hears groans and movement inside the room. About half a minute later, an exhausted Lemmy opens the door.

"What, Roy? Don't you know what time it is?!" Lemmy yawned while not looking impressed with Roy. He then sights Junior and expresses a look of confusion, "And why's Junior with you?"

"That's why I'm here! Junior here's staying the night with ya."

Lemmy continues giving Roy an unimpressed look, "And I'm in charge of him because...?"

"Because I said so, pipsqueak."

"Roy. I'm not doing it-"

Lemmy couldn't help but look down at Junior. He appears defeated yet dead beat. Feeling tad amounts of remorse for his youngest sibling, Lemmy sighs before changing his mind.

"Fine, Roy, you win. Iggy's old bed was cleaned not long ago. Make yourself at home there, Junior. Now leave us be, Roy."

Junior smiles at Lemmy, who doesn't bother giving any positive gestures back at him. Without another word, Lemmy shuts his bedroom door, leaving Roy alone in the hallway now.

"Good. Now I can sleep!"

* * *

"BREAKFAST TIME!" A voice screams into the castle's PA system six hours later, jolting the six koopalings awake.

In his room, a delirious Larry starts to moan something about being kicked out the battle of the bands before he rolls over and attempts to fall back asleep. However, another message on the PA system wakes him back up.

"I'M SERIOUS! GET DOWN HERE, NOW!" the speaker broadcasted an angry female voice.

"Okay, okay! I'm up! Calm down, grandma," Larry mutters before glancing at his clock, "What?! It's freaking 5:07am! That's earlier than some random person in Caldera wakes up for work!"

Larry debated to ignore the council of the voice, but decides against it. Not even bothering to fix his hair, the sneak meanders towards the castle's dining room. There he spots his five siblings and Kammy.

"How dare you be late, Larry," Kammy "greeted" him with a scolding, "You're a royal! You know better!"

"Dude, why are we even up this ea-" Larry paused when Kammy put her left thumb and index finger under her eyes, "I mean, err, beautiful... Dark morning!"

"Good morning to you too, Larry! Now sit down, please!" Kammy commanded in a strong, yet cheery tone, "Today we will have a hearty feast. This is an extremely tasty, yet healthy, breakfast. After this, you'll all have the energy to beat Mario!"

The koopalings exchange looks with each other before Junior quietly pipes up, "We're kind of under peace-"

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP with these interruptions! I don't care if a stupid piece of paper prevents you! They've taken what the koopas once owned! Now whoever interrupts me again will get cursed!" Kammy threatened, causing even Roy to shudder in fear, "Anyway, servants, bring out the meals!"

Six servants bring out a covered plate and they place them in front of each koopaling. Each servant then lifts the lid at the same time, revealing the koopalings' breakfast.

The word 'disgusting' understates the atrocity present on the plate. The plate contains a mixture of rotten scrambled eggs with a green tinge in them, a half-eaten breakfast burrito covered in ants, a slice of an extremely thick, undercooked pancake, and a little bowl of cereal covered in spiders.

"Ewww!" Wendy screamed, "What the heck is this?!"

"It's moving!" Junior wailed.

"Why does my food look weird!" cried Lemmy.

"Hag, get back in dat kitchen and make something good!" Roy commanded.

"Hahahahaha!" Iggy, unlike the others, couldn't help but laugh, "It reminds me of that one experiment I made! With all the green goo! It exploded everywhere and it turned everything into like this jello stuff! And it got infested with bees and ants! Hahahahahaha oh man that was great!"

"..."

"Ahahaha... Oh wait, this disgusting food is serious?" Iggy questioned in surprise.

"Well duh!" the four other complaining koopalings shouted, causing Iggy to flinch before he also starts complaining.

Larry, however, doesn't even bother to complain due to him not eating yesterday. He told himself he wasn't going to eat it, but at the same time it's tempting since, although disgusting, it's still food.

 _'_ _I'm not eating this thing, it's like being a dog...'_ Larry thought, destroying the pancake with his fork, _'And like Kammy says, I'm a royal.'_

"Oh quiet down," Kammy commanded, "Eat it. It's such good protein! My mother and father always made it for me, and look how I turned out. I turned out to be one of your dad's strongest minions!"

"Dude, this ain't protein, this is crap you find in the dumpster at the homeless shelter!" Roy protested, with the four other complainers nodding their head, causing Kammy to almost turn red in anger.

"Look at what I did! I worked for hours to prepare this great, healthy breakfast for you spoiled brats! Now look at you! I've never been so insulted in my life!"

"Good. This is terrible!" Wendy cried, "I'm not eating this!"

"I don't care, you're eating it. Your plate needs to be clear before you can leave the table," Kammy barked.

The koopalings all grumble to themselves, only staring at their food. Hope seemed to be lost for them, until an unannounced voice, as well as a blue-robed magikoopa hologram, comes out of Kammy's wand.

"Kammy!" the magikoopa greeted.

"What Kamek?! I'm teaching these brats a lesson!"

Kamek nods in understanding, "I understand. However, King Bowser wants to talk to both of us. The kids will be fine for around twenty minutes."

Kammy sighs, staring at the kids, the food, then at her wand before responding.

"Fine. I'll be there in a sec."

When Kamek's hologram disappears from Kammy's wand, she gets on her purple broomstick and zooms out, not a word spoken to the kids.

As Kammy disappears from view, a snark, sinister grin appears on Larry's face. _'Now's the best timing...'_ he thought, still smiling.

"What?" Junior questioned Larry's expression.

Larry snaps out of his trance and spots his five siblings peering at him in concern. Of course, he didn't want any of them to know his plans, so instead he thought up another sneaky, devious plan.

"Oh! Uhh, we're all hungry, right?"

"No duh!" Wendy launched the words at Larry, "That's why we're here, staring at this gross food!"

"Well, I was thinking," Larry started, ignoring his sister's sarcastic response, "Maybe we can have the servants give us better food instead."

The rest of the koopalings just stare at their blue-haired brother for a few seconds before nodding their heads.

"Good idea. Simple too," Roy gives Larry one of his rare complimenting phrases before yelling, "Servants! Bring some food for us! Actual good food like bacon or something!"

After the call, six servants come out from the kitchen once again, each putting another plate in front of each koopaling. This time, the plate contains a lush, vanilla-flavored waffle, several slabs of high-quality crispy bacon, an egg-and-tomato toasted sandwich and a refreshing glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice.

"See? This is breakfast," Roy concluded as if Kammy still stayed.

"Yeah! This is actual food Royalty eats," Junior agreed.

"No ants. No spiders," Wendy counted on her fingers as if she's checking off a checklist, "And no mold. Eh, good enough for me."

Larry, Iggy and Lemmy didn't bother giving any sort of acknowledgement to the vast improvement of their food; they couldn't wait any longer to stuff their faces. However, as he ate, the previous smirk once again appeared on Larry's face.

Once he gets into Kamek's Internet, perhaps he'll finally know what's going on, and whether both Kamek and Kammy are in it or not.


End file.
